First sod turned at second waste-to-energy plant in Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City officials and business leaders carry out the formalities to break ground on the second waste-to-energy plant in the city, October 16, 2019. Photo: Le Phan / Tuoi Tre

A private company broke ground on its waste-to-energy plant, which will burn garbage to generate electricity, in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday, following in the footsteps of another firm in August.

The groundbreaking ceremony was organized on the premises of Tam Sinh Nghia Investment - Development Joint-Stock Company in Cu Chi District.

The plant will be able to process 2,000 metric tons of trash a day upon completion.

The construction of the power plant is part of a bid to reduce the rate of burying garbage in Ho Chi Minh City to 50 percent in 2020 and to 20 percent in 2025.

More trash-to-energy plants should be built in order to properly and efficiently treat garbage in Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Thien Nhan, secretary of the municipal Party Committee, said at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The plant in Cu Chi uses German technology that has been applied in 34 countries, Tam Sinh Nghia leaders said.

This technology is fit for processing Asian garbage that tends not to be classified and to have high humidity.

Trash will be stored five to seven days for it to dry, before being moved to the incinerator for burning.

The ensuing heat will then be used to produce energy.

Emissions will be processed with activated carbon and other substances to remove toxic fumes before being released to the environment.

The remaining ashes will be retained to make adobe bricks while the produced wastewater will be treated to be utilized for the plant’s other activities.

This technology has many advantages and will help with the city’s sustainable development, said Nguyen Thanh Phong, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee.

“The municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment and relevant agencies have been charged with researching the trend of garbage disposal in the coming time as the population keeps increasing, so a solution would be proposed for the best treatment of the trash,” Phong said.

“Ho Chi Minh City will create good conditions for investors in the construction of waste-to-energy plants.”

Tam Sinh Nghia is committed to building the plant and putting it into operation as scheduled, Ngo Xuan Tiec, the firm director, said, adding that local residents would never have to complain about the facility’s garbage treatment.

On August 28, Vietstar, another private company, began constructing the first waste-to-energy plant in Ho Chi Minh City, with a treatment capacity of 2,000 metric tons of garbage a day.

Many sewers along the streets in Ho Chi Minh City have their entrances blocked by garbage on a regular basis, negatively impacting urban esthetics and the environment while helping cause serious flooding.

Despite the sweltering weather in Hanoi these days, many young people still flock to lotus ponds surrounding the capital city’s iconic Ho Tay (West Lake) to pose for Instgram-ready photos with a sea of blooming flowers.